This invention relates in general to a method and apparatus for treating gas and in particular to a method of separating components from a gas mixture in which the gas mixture is cooled and the components are separated in a liquid or solid state.
Up to the present time, in general, certain undesirable components of gas mixtures have been separated in wet chemical process, i.e. by a chemical reaction in a liquid state. It is also known to cool the components to be separated on cooled surfaces, such as surfaces of heat exchangers, whereby they are separated in liquid or solid state. In processes of this kind it is necessary to continuously remove the separated deposit from the cool surfaces by scraping or melting. The disadvantage thereof is particularly that the efficiency of separating decreases with the increasing thickness of the deposit and that the operation must be interrupted to remove the separated component, which also entails losses in cold energy. In addition, prior art methods require fairly expensive equipment.
The present invention is an improvement over the prior art particularly in respect to the fact that a concentrated gas mixture to be separated is directly removed from its place of use and directly supplied to a separator tank without allowing any further admixture of secondary air. In addition, the invention provides an improved apparatus for carrying out the method in which a sterilizer is employed in which a concentrated gas mixture for sterilizing equipment is received which is directly connected into the separator tank for separating the components.